Category: Blog

GM Facing Trials in 2016 on Ignition Switch Defect & DOT VSL = $9.4 million in 2015


GM Facing Trials in 2016 on Ignition Switch Defect & DOT VSL = $9.4 million in 2015

January, 2016

Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:

Bloomberg in an excellent article reports current status of cases:

“Zachary Stevens was a teenager headed to bible study when his Saturn Sky shot across a Texas highway into a pickup and killed the driver. Ruben Vazquez, 20, died after a drunk slammed into his stalled Chevy Cobalt on a California freeway. James Yingling III couldn’t brake or steer his Saturn Ion away from a culvert in Pennsylvania. He lingered for 17 days before dying at 35.

These are among the claims facing General Motors Co. this year, the first of hundreds demanding that GM pay for the deaths of loved ones or injuries ranging from broken bones to paralysis. The raft of trials, scattered across the country, begins Monday in federal court in Manhattan.”  See 

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-01-08/gm-ignition-nightmare-won-t-go-away-for-victims-or-company

The U.S. DOT now uses a “Value of a Statistical Life” of $9.4 million in 2015.  Seehttps://www.transportation.gov/sites/dot.gov/files/docs/VSL2015_0.pdf

 

Very Important Safety Questions Raised By a Citizen Activist


Very Important Safety Questions Raised By a Citizen Activist

January, 2016

Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:

One of our members, Marianne Karth, is asking very important questions that come from the heart, soul, and head. Her questions deserve to be read, heard, and heeded for the greater safety of all of us.

Please see them at http://annaleahmary.com/author/marianne/

Spread the word and help her help us all to a Safer America.

Lou

 

Fwd: URGENT: Important Highway Safety Presser Tomorrow


Fwd: URGENT: Important Highway Safety Presser Tomorrow

January, 2016

Dear Care For Crash Victims Community Members:

Here is an important Embargoed Report to be released tomorrow from Advocates from Highway and Auto Safety titled “Missing”.

Missing refers to State Safety Laws missing in each State.

Buried in the State summaries are statistics on the number of people who died of crash injuries in each State for the past 10 years.  Add them up and we find that 362,532 Americans are “missing” i.e., lost their lives due to vehicle violence over the 10 year period.

Using NHTSA figures of estimated injuries nearly 1.5 million additional people suffered serious injuries in America over the 10 year period.  These people are also “missing” – i.e., not counted. 

Using DOT values of $9 million in comprehensive costs per fatality, America “missing” losses would be valued by DOT to be about $3 trillion.

The press conference will be telecast live Thursday, January 28, 2016 at 1 p.m. EST at  https://scontent.webcaster4.com/web/2016highwaysafetylaws

Numbers of vehicle deaths by Congressional District over the 10 years up to 2013 are available at https://www.arcgis.com/home/webmap/viewer.html?webmap=e21e612d64654d75943f85a1a6035472

Hopefully, media will not be “missing”.

Lou 

———- Forwarded message ———- From: Jackie Gillan <jgillan@saferoads.org> Date: Wed, Jan 27, 2016 at 6:01 PM Subject: URGENT: Important Highway Safety Presser Tomorrow To: Jackie Gillan <jgillan@saferoads.org>

Attached for your use is an embargoed copy of Advocates 2016 Roadmap Report that will be released tomorrow at 1 p.m. EST. I hope you can join us at the National Press Club or by webcast.  Please contact Beth Weaver for more information at 301.814.4088 orbeth_weaver@verizon.net

 

Thanks, Jackie

MEDIA ADVISORY

IMPORTANT HIGHWAY SAFETY EVENT TOMORROW

 

Highway Deaths Expected to Have Dramatically Increased in 2015,

Yet States are Missing Lifesaving Laws and Legislators are Missing in Action

 

Report Rates States on 15 Commonsense Traffic Safety Laws That Prevent Crashes,

Save Lives, Reduce Injuries and Contain Costs

 

WHAT:           NEWS CONFERENCE – Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety releases its thirteenth annual report card grading all 50 states and the District of Columbia on their performance in adopting 15 basic highway safety laws on adult and child occupant protection, impaired and distracted driving, and teen driving. The2016 Roadmap of State Highway Safety Laws will focus on the “missing laws” and “missing leadership” in state capitals despite a projected eight percent increase in deaths during the first half of 2015 compared to 2014. In 2015, there were fewer optimal traffic safety laws passed in state legislatures than in the history of the publication of the Roadmap Report. Advocates will also unveil a list of the “best and worst” states, though no state has adopted all 15 of the optimal recommended laws.

 

In 2014, there were nearly 33,000 people killed and 2.3 million more injured in motor vehicle crashes. The steep economic toll amounts to $836 billion in comprehensive costs annually. These figures are expected to climb while legislative action is plummeting. 

 

WHEN:           Thursday, January 28, 2016 at 1 p.m. EST

 

WHERE:        National Press Club, Murrow Room, 529 14th Street, NW, Washington, DC

 

WHO:             Jacqueline Gillan, President, Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety

Mark Rosekind, Administrator, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) (invited)

J. Thomas Manger, Chief of Police, Montgomery County, MD Police Department.  Chief Manger’s Department recently suffered the tragic death of Officer Noah Leotta who was killed by a repeat offender drunk driver while serving on a special DUI assignment.

Dr. Georges Benjamin, Executive Director, American Public Health Association (APHA)

Tammy and Paul Kalp (Dover, DE), Paul was involved in a motorcycle crash in 2012.  He was not wearing a helmet and sustained serious injuries including the loss of the use of the right side of his body and a traumatic brain injury.

Joan Claybrook, Consumer Co-Chair of Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, President Emeritus of Public Citizen, and former Administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

Bill Vainisi, Insurance Co-Chair of Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, Senior Vice President and Deputy General Counsel, Allstate Insurance Company

 

Catherine Chase, Vice President of Governmental Affairs, Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety

 

LIVE WEBCASTof the news conference at https://scontent.webcaster4.com/web/2016highwaysafetylaws

 

BACKGROUND: Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety is a coalition of leading consumer, health, and safety organizations and insurance agents and companies that work together to advance state and federal highway and vehicle safety laws, programs and policies.  The 2016 Roadmap of State Highway Safety Laws will be available on January 28, 2016, 12:01 a.m. EST at www.saferoads.org.

 

###

 

 

 

Jacqueline S. Gillan President Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety 750 First Street, NE Suite 1130 Washington, DC 20002202.408.1711 (office)202.408.1699 (fax)www.saferoads.org

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A Judicial Victory Against Chrysler For Public Safety, Accountability, and Transparency


A Judicial Victory Against Chrysler For Public Safety, Accountability, and Transparency

January, 2016

Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:

“Corporation conceals deadly defect. Someone dies, and their family sues. Corporation settles quietly. Court records are sealed. Nobody finds out.

Jennifer Bennett Public Justice

Jennifer Bennett Public Justice

More people are hurt. More people sue. More settlements are reached. More records are sealed.

“This is how GM was able to hide an ignition switch defect that killed over a hundred people for more than a decade,” says Jennifer Bennett, an attorney with Public Justice in Oakland, California.  “It’s how Remington concealed evidence that its most popular rifle can fire without anyone pulling the trigger.”

But be because of a Ninth Circuit decision handed down in Velasco v. Chrysler, “it is now much harder for corporations to enlist courts in keeping their secrets,” Bennett says.”

– See more at:

http://www.corporatecrimereporter.com/news/200/ninth-circuit-hands-safety-advocates-victory-over-chrysler/

 

Policies and Politics of Auto Safety


Monthly Report: Policies and Politics of Auto Safety

January, 2016

Dear Care For Crash Victims Community Members:

To help us all advance safety in this election year, I have put together some political facts and figures on auto safety.

Please see the January 2016 Monthly Report attached.  Let us hope it helps us all build a Safer and more Just America.

Lou

 

Nader on Costs to Humanity of Monetized Elections


Nader on Costs to Humanity of Monetized Elections

January, 2016

Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members: Nader explains the system that enslaves us and he encourages us to act:

“Voters, you can change all this rancid defilement of our Republic and its democratic dreams. Do your homework on the parties and the candidates, form informal groups to demand debates and agendas that you preside over, push for more choices on the ballot, make votes count over money. The internet can help speed up such efforts.

You outnumber the politicos and their entourages everywhere.  You are the ones who keep paying the price for letting politics remain a deadly form of distracting entertainment with a mainstream media obsessed with the horse race rather than the human race.”  See 

https://blog.nader.org/2016/01/21/the-devastating-cost-of-monetized-elections/ Read Nader’s article for a better understanding of why in the 21st Century we still do not have a Vision Zero goal for an end to crash deaths and serious injuries in or by a new car in a decade – despite the unprecedented availability of unused safety technologies.  Are we to have crash deaths and serious injuries forevermore?  See https://www.careforcrashvictims.com/assets/MonthlyReportforJanuary2016-Corrected.pdf

We can and must do better protecting our health, safety, money, and sovereignty.  This election gives us an opportunity and responsibility to help build a Safer America.

 

NY Times Editorial Calls Out Against Bipartisan Effort To Undermine Regulations


NY Times Editorial Calls Out Against Bipartisan Effort To Undermine Regulations

January, 2016

Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:

The NY Times Editorial Board wrote:Under the legislation, however, Congress would actively interfere in the rule-making process. One provision would require that the Congressional Budget Office review and approve the costs and benefits of proposed rules….The Democrats behind the effort are Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, Mark Warner of Virginia and Joe Manchin III of West Virginia, joined by Angus King Jr., an independent from Maine. The Republicans are Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, Rob Portman of Ohio, James Lankford of Oklahoma and Roy Blunt of Missouri. The group is trying to recruit more co-sponsors, especially among Democrats.  See

Citizens need information on how wrong and harmful this effort is to people in their own States and Congressional Districts.   For crash deaths by State see the Table attached:
Sen. Heitkamp D of ND, 1st Term:  148 crash deaths in 2013,  ND ranked 48th in crash deaths per population, and 68% of the crash deaths were not taken to any medical facility for emergency care.
Sen. Mark Warner D of VA, 2nd Term:
748 crash deaths in 2013, VA ranked 16th in crash deaths per population, and 60% of the crash deaths were not taken to any medical facility for emergency care.
Sen. Joe Manchin D of WV, 2nd Term:
332 crash deaths in 2013, WV ranked 47th in crash deaths per population, and 53% of the crash deaths were not taken to any medical facility for emergency care.
Sen. Angus King I of ME, 1st Term:
145 crash deaths in 2013, ME ranked 25th in crash deaths per population, and 66% of the crash deaths were not taken to any medical facility for emergency care.
Sen. Ron Johnson R of WI, 1st Term:

543 crash deaths in 2013, WI ranked 18th in crash deaths per population, and 62% of the crash deaths were not taken to any medical facility for emergency care.
Sen. Rob Portman R of OH, 1st Term:

989 crash deaths in 2013, OH ranked 13th in crash deaths per population, and 53% of the crash deaths were not taken to any medical facility for emergency care.
Sen. James Lankford R of OK, 1st Term:

678 crash deaths in 2013, OK ranked 45th in crash deaths per population, and 60% of the crash deaths were not taken to any medical facility for emergency care.
Sen. Roy Blunt R of MO, 1st Term:

757 crash deaths in 2013, MO ranked 32nd in crash deaths per population, and 60% of the crash deaths were not taken to any medical facility for emergency care.
Let’s give voters the information they need to understand what is happening to them and to act in their own best interest to prevent politics and policies detrimental to all of us.  
We all have roles and responsibilities to build a Safer America.   Let’s use our voices and votes for Safety.
Lou